The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Liz Throssell on Iran Executions in 2024
“Most of the executions last year were for drug-related offences, but dissidents and people connected to the 2022 protests were also executed. There was also a rise in the number of women executed,” she said.
“It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions,” the spokesperson said.
The UN Human Rights Office opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. It is incompatible with the fundamental right to life and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people. “And to be clear, it can never be imposed for conduct that is protected under international human rights law,” Throssell said.
“We understand that at least 31 women were reportedly executed in 2024. Now, that marks the highest number in 15 years,” she said.
“The majority of cases involve charges of murder. A significant number of the women were victims of domestic violence, child marriage or forced marriage. A number of them were convicted of murdering their husbands.”
“The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urges the Iranian authorities to halt all further executions, and to place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to ultimately abolishing it. Some 170 States have either abolished the death penalty or imposed a moratorium on its use,” Throssell said.
END
In Geneva:
Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org
Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org
Jeremy Laurence - + 41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org
Thameen Al-Kheetan - + 41 76 223 77 62 / thameen.alkheetan@un.org
Tag and share - Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
STORY: UN Human Rights Spokesperson Liz Throssell on Iran Executions in 2024
TRT: 01:55
SOURCE: OHCHR / UNOG
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 07 January 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior shot : Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “We are deeply troubled by the marked increase in executions in Iran last year. At least 901 people were reportedly executed in 2024, including some 40 in one week alone in December. At least 853 people were executed in 2023.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Most of the executions last year were for drug-related offences, but dissidents and people connected to the 2022 protests were also executed. There was also a rise in the number of women executed.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “And to be clear, it can never be imposed for conduct that is protected under international human rights law.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “We understand that at least 31 women were reportedly executed in 2024. Now, that marks the highest number in 15 years.
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “the majority of cases involve charges of murder. A significant, number of the women, were victims of domestic violence, child marriage or forced marriage. A number of them were convicted of murdering their husbands.”
- Cut away: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urges the Iranian authorities to halt all further executions, and to place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to ultimately abolishing it. Some 170 States have either abolished the death penalty or imposed a moratorium on its use”
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNWOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Liz Throssell made the following statement on the latest number of civilian casualties in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday called for investigations into hundreds of killings of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security forces and settlers, warning against ongoing forced mass displacement of the Palestinian population.
1
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR , UNRWA
Nearly 900 people have been killed in Gaza in recent weeks trying to fetch food, with most deaths linked to private aid hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the UN Human Rights Office have today released a report detailing the evolution of violent gang incidents beyond the capital Port-au-Prince since October 2024 up to June 2025, and the resulting loss of life and mass displacement.